Tonio Liuzzi has admitted his performance during qualifying for the Turkish Grand Prix was below par.

He failed to make Q2 for the second time this year while team-mate Adrian Sutil will start 11th on the grid. Liuzzi said he had been struggling for rear-end grip since the Spanish Grand Prix and that when the problem was solved he would be back on the pace.

"We didn't get the most from qualifying today and should have been in a better position," he said. "We have been struggling with the grip since the start of the weekend and had a pretty similar issue to Barcelona. We don't seem to have the right balance or get the tyres to work, particularly at the rear of the car. We are trying a couple of things and once it is sorted we will be competitive for sure, so it's not worth dwelling on today."

Liuzzi was running an F-duct on his car to improve straight-line speed and said that it should help him carve his way through the field on Sunday.

"The new switchable rear wing has been a big step forward so we can be pretty confident about the race. So although it's disappointing for now, tomorrow we should be able to move up the field and do as much as we can."

But former team-mate David Coulthard was not as convinced. "Tonio's a lovely guy … but he just isn't quick enough."